New Sunset Beach marijuana dispensary in legal limbo

Patient Med-Aid is the first medical marijuana dispensary to be opened in Sunset Beach since 2011, when all dispensaries there were closed by the county. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Huntington Beach – A new marijuana dispensary is open in Sunset Beach and operating without a business license, though its owners say that's because they've been given the run- around by city bureaucracy.

Patient Med-Aid opened Feb. 4 on Pacific Coast Highway near Warner Avenue, the first time a marijuana dispensary has been open in Sunset Beach since Orange County closed dispensaries there in early 2011.

Its owners say they opened the dispensary to serve cancer and AIDS patients in the area who can't travel to dispensaries in Garden Grove, and they haven't been given the chance to acquire a business license despite repeated attempts to do so.

"We have been attempting to find the correct mechanism to get it operating and licensed correctly," said Matthew Pappas, an attorney for co-owner Marla James. Patient Med-Aid was served two citations by Huntington Beach yesterday, according to Pappas.

A notice served to the Patient Med Aid from the Office of Code Enforcement on Feb. 11 said the dispensary is in violation of Huntington Beach Code for lacking a business license and being a nuisance. The city code makes no mention of medical marijuana, neither to ban it or as something the city can regulate.

City departments are working together "to explain to the business operator, their employees, their attorney, and the property owner that they are operating (illegally) in violation of the City's Municipal Code," city spokeswoman Laurie Flymire said in an e-mail.

A meeting with the city is planned for next week after code enforcement, licensing and the attorney's offices had referred the Patient Med-Aid team from one office to another and that a few requests to meet with the city attorney were denied, said James, a resident of Huntington Beach.

James is a medical marijuana user after battling a series of illnesses and having a leg removed from diabetes. She has been involved in other lawsuits and said the law is on their side, citing a recent appeals court ruling that said L.A. County's complete ban on dispensaries conflicted with the state's Compassionate Use Act.

"Is it my right to not use a pharmaceutical drug and use something more natural?" asked James, who is also director of the Orange County chapter of Americans for Safe Access.

Local, state and federal laws continue to contradict one another on that question. In May, Pappas argued in front of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal that the cities of Costa Mesa and Lake Forest discriminated against James and other medical marijuana users when the cities banned dispensaries.

The court ruled that medical marijuana use wasn't protected under federal law, and that the bans could stand. The plaintiffs have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case on appeal.

More clarity on medical marijuana in California use is likely to come from a case argued in front of the state Supreme Court argued in February on whether cities have the right to ban medical marijuana dispensaries under the California Compassionate Use Act, which set California's medical marijuana ID program in motion. A ruling is likely to come in the spring.

James said marijuana is a better drug for her than pills like Oxycontin. "I had no life, whatsoever, when I was on that medication, because I was always zoned out," she said.

She objected to the police car's placement directly outside the dispensary as intimidating.

The president of the Sunset Beach Community Association, Mike VanVoorhis, was in favor of the car staying there for its symbolic meaning.

"It sends the message to the residents that the police are aware of the situation," said VanVoorhis, who was in favor of the 2011 Sunset Beach dispensary closings. "If it gives people pause before going there, great, and for the legitimate purposes that people buy marijuana, that won't stop them at all."

Police spokesman Mitch O'Brien said "the police car is parked legally on a public street." City officials didn't give a timeline for when the code would be enforced.

Patient Med-Aid is the first medical marijuana dispensary to be opened in Sunset Beach since 2011, when all dispensaries there were closed by the county. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
In addition a wide variety of marijuana strains, the dispensary also offers a variety of edibles and THC in liquid form, which is smoked using a vaporizer. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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